Comments on: The End of the Premier League as We Know It?

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 19:42:25 +0000

I doubt there is really any market whatsoever in these foreign countries for the smaller clubs.

By: Matt

Matt — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 17:54:37 +0000

The emperor with no clothes? Too true. Leagues in America, Australia, Japan, and China may not have teams that can compete with ManU, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea, but England does not have them either. Seriously. Let me be the 30th person to tell EPL to keep Wigan and Bolton and Portsmouth to themselves. I’d rather watch Toronto v. Chicago or KC v. Colorado.

By: Adam M

Adam M — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 14:47:39 +0000

Be cause I’m not very well off and the economy isn’t booming, I’m not going to be able to go to England and see another premier league match for some time, so it would be nice to see one occasionally. That said, culturally it is a disaster and shouldn’t happen.

I’d like to add: England has poached the best talent from other countries from 15 years. I am thus a little amused by the xenophobic rants and the “oh poor me” whining they are sending out.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:45:07 +0000

I get the impulse to have a game overseas, but why the extra game? The idea of an extra game is bad enough as it is, but the random draw for the extra game is just ridiculous.

I’m with Ryan, if they’re going to go through with the idea to play a game overseas, it should be one of the games in the regular schedule. Give each team the option to play one home game outside England at a location of their choice, and add a restriction on the max number of games any one team plays overseas to prevent the big teams from spending the whole season flying from one country to another.

(And what the heck do orange wedges have to do with anything?)

By: RyanJ

RyanJ — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:45:18 +0000

Definately a dumb idea to have an extra game, but I would welcome seeing a premier league game here in the states. I probably would have the same intensity and passion as in britain, but It would help the growth of the sport in the US. If they do anything they need to include this change into the regular scheduled 38 games

By: Johnny

Johnny — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 02:42:14 +0000

Orange wedges gave me miasma.

By: matt

matt — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:38:04 +0000

yea this sucks because the one’s of us who can’t afford to fly to england and pinch a ticket off a scalper might get to see these guys live. fuck them for that. i know it’s a cash grab…but seriously. if portsmouth plays everton or some other random match like that happens within a 3-4 hour drive from me or a bunch of other dudes i know who dont try and pretend like the level of style and competition is even close to the mls then we’ll all be there.

quit acting like you’ve had something to do with the tradition of english soccer cause you started out with orange slices in kindergarten. and for the english fans who are opposed to it, grow the hell up…if it was still “your game” we’d have a bunch of slow white dudes slogging around while the “fans” were trying to beat the ever living shit out of each other and whoever else was a round to boot.

i hope it works out for them…cash grab or not.

By: Blue Devil Brad

Blue Devil Brad — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:29:12 +0000

But honestly, what are the other alternatives? Do you want them to take away a home game from one team? That’s what the NFL did this year with the London game – is that fair? How do you decide which team loses the home game?
Or what the NHL did was they had a two game series in London between the Kings and Ducks. Now neither teams home fans will see that matchup, because both were played overseas.

If the game is going to count in the standings (which is the entire idea – bids for a friendly with second stringers would be way lower), the game has to come from somewhere.

By: bluemeanies

bluemeanies — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 22:11:46 +0000

Paging Sunil Gulati. I extremely advise you to put it out there that any US stadium that makes a bid for one of these games gets put on a 50yr blacklist for national team fixtures. Paging also the heads of the Japanese, Korean, Canadian and Australian FA’s. Probably the only way to stop it, if there is a way. The English certainly won’t come to their senses.

By: djl

djl — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 19:49:17 +0000

Ridiculous. Mind-bogglingly dumb.

If they play anywhere near me, I’ll ignore them and continue to spend my money supporting my local club.

The Premiership is a fine league, but really, there’s maybe six or teams worth spending a bunch of money to see. Given the choice between spending $40-$50 for bad seats to see Middlesbrough play Wigan or spending $15-$20 for a good MLS match, I’ll take the MLS match any day of the week.